At the White House Pres. Bush outlined a “second stage of the war on terror” in an address that marked the 6-months since the Sep 11 terrorist attacks. Bush also unveiled a commemorative stamp to raise money to help Sept. 11 victims "get their lives back in order."
Links: USA, Postage, BushGW

2002 Mar 12

The Bush administration announced a 5-color code system to alert Americans on the danger level posed by terrorists. Homeland security chief Tom Ridge announced that America was at yellow alert as he unveiled a color-coded system for terror warnings.
Links: USA, BushGW

2002 Mar 13

President Bush declared at a news conference that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a menace "and we're going to deal with him," and said Osama bin Laden had been reduced to a marginal figure in the war on terrorism.
Links: Iraq, USA, al-Qaida, BushGW

2002 Mar 21

President Bush began a four-day trip to Latin America.
Links: USA, BushGW

2002 Mar 22

Pres. Bush addressed the UN meeting in Monterey, Mexico, and called on wealthy nations to link foreign aid to economic reform. Bush had already proposed an extra $10 billion over 3 years starting in 2004. US aid was about .01% of GDP as compared to 1% of GDP for Denmark.
Links: UN, Mexico, BushGW

Pres. Bush said he would sell Governor's Island in NY Harbor to NY state and NYC for a nominal charge.
Links: New York, NYC, BushGW

2002 Apr 4

Pres. Bush demanded that Israel withdraw from West Bank cities and end settlement activity in occupied territories. He dismissed Yasser Arafat as a failed leader who had "betrayed the hopes of his people." Bush ordered Sec. of State Colin Powell to the region to seek a cease-fire.
Links: Israel, Palestine, BushGW

Pres. Bush responded to British TV journalist Trevor McDonald's question "Have you made up your mind that Iraq must be attacked?" by saying: "I made up my mind that Hussein needs to go."
Links: Iraq, BushGW

2002 Apr 6

Pres. Bush repeated his call for Israel to "withdraw without delay" from West Bank towns it had occupied since launching an offensive after a string of suicide attacks. Bush also demanded the Palestinians call "an immediate and effective cease-fire."
Links: Israel, Palestine, BushGW

2002 Apr 23

President Bush's top White House aide, Karen Hughes, resigned to go home to Texas with her family.
Links: USA, BushGW

2002 Apr 25

Pres. Bush met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who told him bluntly that the US must temper its support of Israel. Abdullah gave Bush an 8-point proposal for Middle East peace.
Links: Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, BushGW

2002 May 1

China's VP Hu Jintao met with Pres. Bush. Jintao said the Taiwan issue could hurt relations and defended China's record on human rights. They agreed to resume military exchanges.
Links: USA, China, BushGW

Pres. Bush met with PM Ariel Sharon. They called for sweeping changes to Palestinian governing institutions and a new Palestinian security service but they failed to agree on many other issues.
Links: Israel, Palestine, BushGW

2002 May 13

President Bush signed a $190 billion farm bill guaranteeing higher subsidies to growers in Midwestern and Southern states. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act increased federal payments by some $83 billion over the next 10 years and was passed to help farmers cope with low commodity prices.
Links: USA, BushGW

2002 May 13

President Bush announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign a treaty to shrink their countries' nuclear arsenals by two-thirds to 1,700-2,200 active warheads at the end of 10 years.
Links: Russia, USA, BushGW

2002 May 15

The Bush administration rejected pleas by former Pres. Carter and farm-state lawmakers to ease the trade embargo on Cuba.
Links: USA, Cuba, BushGW

2002 May 20

Pres. Bush marked Cuban Independence Day with a speech that offered Cuba greater economic and political ties in exchange for free and transparent elections and an open economy.
Links: USA, Cuba, BushGW

TimelinesA text-based site.

2002 May 21

President Bush warned that al-Qaida terrorists still "want to hurt us," while his Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld, said terrorists inevitably will acquire weapons of mass destruction from countries like Iraq, Iran or North Korea.
Links: USA, al-Qaida, BushGW

Pres. Bush at a Berlin press conference said that he expects Pres. Putin to "get on board" with America's hard-line policy toward Iran and Iraq. Bush also addressed the German Parliament and said terrorist groups constitute a "new totalitarian threat," and then flew on to Moscow.
Links: Germany, BushGW

2002 May 24

Presidents Bush and Putin signed the Treaty of Moscow, an agreement to reduce nuclear stockpiles by two-thirds over the next 10 years.
Links: Russia, USA, Nuclear, BushGW

2002 May 25

President Bush, during a visit to St. Petersburg, joined Russian President Vladimir Putin in pressuring Pakistan's president to curb cross-border violence in Kashmir and ease tensions with neighboring India.
Links: Russia, India, Pakistan, Kashmir, BushGW

President Bush visited Paris, where he met with French President Jacques Chirac.
Links: France, BushGW

2002 May 27

Pres. Bush commemorated Memorial Day at Normandy American Cemetery in France, where he honored the 9,387 men and women buried there.
Links: France, BushGW

2002 May 28

Pres. Bush met with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City and expressed his worries on the sex scandals in the US involving Catholic clergy.
Links: Vatican, BushGW, Clergy Sex

2002 May 29

Pres. Bush moved to prevent oil drilling off the Florida coast and in the Everglades. Payments of $115 and $120 million would be made to buy back drilling rights. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said it was good public policy.
Links: USA, Oil, Florida, BushGW

Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamed met with Pres. Bush in Washington, DC. In 2006 it was revealed that lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize the meeting. Mahathir later said that at the time he had been persuaded by the Heritage Foundation to meet with Bush because the conservative think tank believed he could help "influence (Bush) in some way regarding US policies."
Links: USA, Malaysia, BushGW

2002 Jun 1

President Bush told West Point graduates the United States would strike pre-emptively against suspected terrorists if necessary to deter attacks on Americans, saying "the war on terror will not be won on the defensive."
Links: USA, BushGW

2002 Jun 3

Pres. Bush, in Little Rock, Ark., to promote his welfare initiative, said intelligence agencies and the FBI had to do a better job tracking and catching terrorists, emphasizing pursuit of "this shadowy enemy."
Links: FBI, Arkansas, BushGW

Pres. Bush proposed a new Cabinet department for domestic security. The Department of Homeland Security would operate on a $37.5 billion budget and have 169,154 employees.
Links: BushGW

2002 Jun 8

Pres. Bush met with Egypt's Pres. Hosni Mubarak at Camp David. Mubarak said Middle East violence would continue until Israel withdraws from Palestinian territory and hope for a future is restored to the Palestinian people. Bush sidestepped Arab pleas to impose a deadline for Palestinian statehood while Mubarak defended Yasser Arafat and urged, "Give this man a chance."
Links: USA, Egypt, Palestine, BushGW

2002 Jun 13

Pres. Bush met with Saudi Prince Saud al-Faisal and indicated that he would support the creation of a Palestinian state.
Links: USA, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, BushGW

2002 Jun 18

Pres. Bush sent to Congress his detailed proposal for creation of a new Homeland Security Department.
Links: USA, BushGW

2002 Jun 20

Colombian President-elect Alvaro Uribe pressed President Bush for more help in fighting drugs, while Bush cautioned him to respect human rights as he combats leftist rebels who rely largely on drug trafficking for their income.
Links: Colombia, USA, BushGW

TimelinesA text-based site.

2002 Jun 24

Pres. Bush outlined his blueprint for peace in the Middle East. His statement included a call on Palestinians to replace Yasser Arafat with leaders "not compromised by terror" and adopt democratic reforms that could produce an independent state within three years.
Links: Israel, Palestine, BushGW

2002 Jun 25

President Bush surveyed a huge wildfire in Arizona by air and declared the region a disaster area.
Links: Arizona, Fire, BushGW

2002 Jun 26

The Palestinian Authority, under pressure from President Bush to dump Yasser Arafat as its leader, announced that presidential elections will be held in mid-January.
Links: Palestine, BushGW

2002 Jun 29

President Bush transferred presidential powers to Vice President Dick Cheney for more than two hours during a routine colon screening that ended in a clean bill of health.
Links: USA, BushGW

Speaking in New York, President Bush called for doubled prison terms and aggressive policing to combat fraud and corruption in corporate America.
Links: USA, BushGW, Fraud

2002 Jul 10

A unified US Senate approved harsh new penalties for corporate fraud and document-shredding as part of an accounting oversight bill. The House approved, 310-113, a measure to allow pilots to carry guns in the cockpit to defend their planes against terrorists. President George W. Bush later signed the measure into law.
Links: USA, Aviation, Guns, Accounting, BushGW, Fraud

2002 Jul 19

Tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets of the capital condemning President Bush for criticizing their government with calls of "Death to America" and "Death to Bush."
Links: Iran, BushGW

President Bush signed into law the most far-reaching government crackdown on business fraud since the Depression. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, named after sponsors Paul Sarbanes and Mike Oxley, was signed into law in response to corporate scandals. Its rules included the independence of corporate directors’ requirements for better internal monitoring. The law curbed stock option backdating by requiring prompt reporting of stock option grants. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCOAB) was established as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In 2006 the Free Enterprise Fund filed a suit claiming that the PCOAB is unconstitutional.
Links: USA, Corp. Scandal, BushGW, Fraud

Pres. Bush met with Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, who said war with Iraq was not acceptable and that Saudi Arabia would not cooperate. Bush told the Saudi diplomat he had not yet decided whether to attack Iraq.
Links: Iraq, USA, Saudi Arabia, BushGW

2002 Sep 4

President Bush promised to seek Congress' approval for "whatever is necessary" to oust Saddam Hussein including using military force.
Links: Iraq, USA, BushGW

2002 Sep 7

Pres. Bush met with British PM Tony Blair at Camp David, Md., to work out a strategy for taking action against Iraq's Saddam Hussein. They said the world had to act against Saddam Hussein, arguing that the Iraqi leader had defied the United Nations and reneged on promises to destroy weapons of mass destruction.
Links: Iraq, Britain, USA, BushGW

2002 Sep 11

With words of comfort and resolve, President Bush joined the nation in remembering "how it began and who fell first" in the terrorist attacks one year earlier. Memorial ceremonies were tinged with fear the anniversary could spark repeat attacks.
Links: USA, BushGW

2002 Sep 12

Pres. Bush addressed the UN and laid out his case against Iraq's Pres. Saddam Hussein. Bush told skeptical world leaders at the United Nations to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, or to stand aside as the United States acted. Bush was expected to announce US plans to rejoin Unesco, headquartered in Paris. France favored a demand for weapons inspectors in Iraq along with force if Iraq resisted.
Links: USA, UN, BushGW